Objective Analysis of Michigan State and the Big Ten Conference

I just put together some statistical leaderboards for the 2011 campaign so far. You can find these easily under the 2011 Leaderboard tab on the top right and they will be updated at my discretion (read: when I have time). In an ideal world, I’ll have these updated every Monday or Tuesday, but I make no promises on that.

As of right now, I’ve compiled the team Defensive Efficiency Ratio and data for individual hitters, starting pitchers and relief pitchers. If you’re looking for regular earned run average or a hitters batting average, or on-base percentage, then these leaderboards are not for you.

What I’ve presented, I’ll quickly run through.

Hitters

What I’ve included is the percentage of plate appearances the hitter either strikes out, walks/gets hit by a pitch. Along with that, I’ve included a hitter’s isolated power which I have adjusted using these park factors from Boyd’s World. The data, unfortunately, is not adjusted for competition. As of right now, I’d have to calculate the strength of schedule adjustment on my own and, honestly, I’m not willing to really mess with that for the time being. I also have a Runs Above Average total for each hitter listed that is calculated using the Base Runs method.

Pitchers

I’ve broken pitchers into two leaderboards and three separate roles. For pitchers who start a game in 70% or more of their appearances, they are labeled as starting pitchers. For those who get a start in 40-69% of their appearances, I’ve dubbed them swingmen. Finally, those who start games in 39% of their appearances or fewer, they are relievers.

The stats I have for all pitchers are K% and BB%, like I do for hitters. These are the most important numbers to look at. Sure, I’ve got advanced data with an ERA replicate born out of the Base Runs method and then adjusted for park — from which I get the runs above average totals — but the meat of the data for pitchers is in the strikeout and walk/HBP totals.

Team Levels

I currently have Defensive Efficiency Ratio which is calculated just like it is at Baseball Prospectus. This is the best measure for defense at the major league level. I feel that this holds true — perhaps even more so — at the college level, as well.

For team hitting, I’ve included the teams K%, BB%, BABIP and park adjusted isolated power. Pitching, I have included K%, BB% and BABIP, but also give the teams’ traditional ERA as well as a base runs derived runs allowed metric.

I have a standings page as well. Here, you’ll find actual runs scored and allowed, estimated runs scored and allowed — derived, again, from the Base Runs method — and the team’s actual winning percentage, predicted win percentage and estimated win percentage. The difference between the three are explained on that page itself.

K% – Percentage of plate appearances a player strikes out inBB% – Percentage of plate appearances a player walks OR draws a hit by pitch
BABIP – Batting Average on Balls In Play; a measure of ‘luck’ERA – Earned Runs Allowed Per Nine InningspERA – An ERA replicate via the Base Runs method that is adjusted for park

K% – Percentage of plate appearances a player strikes out inBB% – Percentage of plate appearances a player walks OR draws a hit by pitch
BABIP – Batting Average on Balls In Play; a measure of ‘luck’
Iso* – Park-adjusted Isolated Power, Slugging Percentage minus Batting Average

RL – Pitcher’s roll. If a pitcher started 40-69% of his games, he is a swingman (SW) and 0-39% is a relief pitcher (RP)
K% – Percentage of batters faced a pitcher struck out.BB% – Percentage of batters faced a pitcher walked and hit by pitchBABIP – Batting Average on Balls In Play; a measure of ‘luck’pERA – An ERA replicate via the Base Runs method that is adjusted for parkRAA – Using pERA to estimate a pitchers ‘true’ amount of runs contributed to his team.

K% – Percentage of batters faced a pitcher struck out.BB% – Percentage of batters faced a pitcher walked and hit by pitchBABIP – Batting Average on Balls In Play; a measure of ‘luck’pERA – An ERA replicate via the Base Runs method that is adjusted for parkRAA – Using pERA to estimate a pitchers ‘true’ amount of runs contributed to his team.

Updated for games through Monday, April 5th. Minimum 50 plate appearances.

Rk

Name

Team

PA

K%

BB%

BABIP

ISO*

PA RAA

1

Holm, Jeff

MSU

107

0.065

0.140

0.410

0.198

12.2

2

Deegan, Sean

PSU

119

0.176

0.059

0.407

0.306

10.8

3

Eckerle, Brandon

MSU

117

0.051

0.103

0.454

0.066

9.3

4

Johnson, Micha

IU

131

0.214

0.122

0.453

0.125

9.2

5

Boss, Torsten

MSU

109

0.147

0.101

0.429

0.247

9.1

6

Steranka, Jordan

PSU

119

0.143

0.076

0.368

0.296

7.6

7

Dickerson, Alex

IU

126

0.071

0.119

0.367

0.191

7.6

8

Perkins, Cameron

PUR

124

0.097

0.097

0.372

0.201

6.5

9

Cypret, Ryan

OSU

95

0.042

0.095

0.392

0.175

6.2

10

Talbott, Stephen

PUR

114

0.132

0.167

0.400

0.117

6.1

11

Spillner, Tyler

PUR

126

0.111

0.143

0.364

0.215

6.0

12

Snieder, Paul

NW

103

0.184

0.126

0.409

0.205

4.9

13

DeMuth, Dustin

IU

139

0.144

0.108

0.446

0.087

4.6

14

Solomon, Greg

OSU

67

0.239

0.045

0.522

0.220

3.7

15

DeBernardis, Joey

PSU

116

0.172

0.103

0.405

0.179

3.4

16

Plawecki, Kevin

PUR

122

0.033

0.131

0.382

0.061

2.9

17

Bridges, Ryan

PUR

93

0.129

0.129

0.359

0.214

2.8

18

Nick O’Shea

MINN

59

0.085

0.068

0.367

0.212

2.5

19

Livingston, Jack

NW

57

0.211

0.140

0.389

0.240

2.3

20

Serrato, Barrett

PUR

119

0.168

0.118

0.417

0.094

2.1

21

Stevens, Trevor

NW

114

0.149

0.175

0.392

0.070

1.9

22

Lashmet, Chris

NW

113

0.097

0.097

0.367

0.126

1.8

23

Schultz, Trip

MINN

63

0.111

0.175

0.318

0.151

1.6

24

Gominsky, Justin

MINN

82

0.159

0.085

0.435

0.061

1.5

25

O’Neill, Michael

MICH

110

0.173

0.091

0.375

0.113

1.3

Rk – RankPA – Plate AppearancesBABIP – Batting Average on Balls In Play; a measure of ‘luck’K% – Percentage of plate appearances a player strikes out inBB% – Percentage of plate appearances a player walks OR draws a hit by pitchIso* – Park-adjusted Isolated Power, Slugging Percentage minus Batting Average;RAA – Runs Above Average using a Base Runs method and adjusted for park. Estimate of the number of ‘true’ runs a player contributes to his team.

Disclaimer:

This site is in no way affiliated with the Big Ten Conference, Michigan State University, or the NCAA. All opinions expressed are my own and my data is content either created myself or by others that I'm using with permission. If you have any comments, questions, suggestions or inquiries, please email me at mikerogers04 [at] gmail [dot] com.